Table Of ContentVitamin C and the Common Cold:A
Nobel Prize-winning Scientist Tells how
You May Avoid Colds and Improve Your
Health
Cover image of Vitamin C and the Common Cold
Author
Linus Pauling
Country
United States
Language
English
Subject
Vitamin C and the common
cold
Genre
Non-fiction
Publisher
Freeman
Publication date
1970
Published in
English
1970
Vitamin C and the Common Cold (book)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vitamin C and the Common Cold is a popular book
by Linus Pauling, first published in 1970, on vitamin
C, its interactions with common cold and the role of
vitamin C megadosage in human health.[1] The book
promoted the idea that taking large amounts of
vitamin C could reduce the duration and severity of
the common cold. A Nobel Prize-winning chemist
and activist, Pauling promoted a view of vitamin C
that is strongly at odds with most of the scientific
community, which found little evidence for the
alleged health benefits of greatly increased vitamin C
intake. The book went through multiple editions, and
a revised version that discussed the flu and other
diseases, retitled Vitamin C, the Common Cold & the
Flu, came out in 1976.[2]
The book characterizes the inability of humans and
some other animals to produce vitamin C in terms of
evolution and Pauling's concept of "molecular
disease" (first articulated in his 1949 study, "Sickle
Cell Anemia, a Molecular Disease"). Pauling argues
that the loss of vitamin C synthesis first arose as a
molecular disease, because of a genetic mutation that
resulted in the loss of the biochemical capacity to
make the vitamin, but because diets of the primate
ancestors of humans consisted of high levels of
vitamin C from plant sources, the loss of that
biochemical mechanism was not harmful and may
have even been beneficial. He argues, however, that
the subsequent shift to a high-meat, lower-plant diet
resulted in widespread vitamin C deficiency.[3]
Contents
◾ 1 Research, writing and revisions
◾ 2 Reception
◾ 3 Notes
◾ 4 References
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Research, writing and revisions
Pauling began studying vitamin C mega-dosage, and orthomolecular medicine more broadly, after he
was contacted in 1966 by biochemist Irwin Stone, who suggested that taking enough vitamin C would
let him live another fifty years. Pauling reinterpreted the large body of research on vitamin C based on
comparative studies of the biochemical genetics of vitamin C synthesis in different species, as well his
own theories about "molecular disease" and recent developments in molecular evolution. He criticized
the design of studies that did not find positive results for vitamin C mega-dose treatment, and promoted
those that did. He and other vitamin C advocates thought the vitamin boosts the body's ability to fight all
kinds of infection. By 1970, after following Stone's regimen for 4 years and studying and debating the
issue extensively, Pauling was sure enough that organized medicine had it wrong that he wrote Vitamin
C and the Common Cold to popularize his vitamin C message.[4]
In 1970, he found an in-depth 1942 study from public health researcher at the University of Minnesota,
"Vitamins for the Prevention of Colds", which became a focal point for his subsequent criticism of what
he saw as flawed vitamin C research.[5] One chapter was added to the second edition in 1971. By 1976,
following confrontations with researchers holding to the mainstream view of vitamin C, Pauling
expanded the book to include evidence related to a wide variety of other illnesses, and the flu in
particular. That edition and a further revision in 1981 were issued under the title Vitamin C, the Common
Cold & the Flu.[6]
Reception
The book was well received by the public and garnered considerable popular attention, resulting in a
rush of vitamin C sales. Paperback editions were issued in 1971 and 1973, and Pauling subsequently
authored several related books: Vitamin C and Cancer (1979) and How to Live Longer and Feel Better
(1986).
The book and Pauling himself faced considerable criticism from scientists and physicians.[7] Three
studies by the Mayo Clinic found that patients given 10,000 mg of vitamin C daily did no better than
those given a placebo.[8]
Notes
1. Pauling, Linus (1970). Vitamin C and the Common Cold (1 ed.). San Francisco: W. H. Freeman. Retrieved
12 August 2016 – via Open Library.
2. Goertzel and Goertzel, pp. 199-201
3. Pauling (1981), pp. 57-68, Goertzel and Goertzel, pp. 205-206
4. Goertzel and Goertzel, pp. 197-201
5. Goertzel and Goertzel, pp. 202-203
6. Pauling (1981), p. iv
7. Goertzel and Goertzel, pp. 201-205
8. http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/pauling.html
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Vitamin C and the Common Cold (book) - Wikipedia
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C_and_the_Common_Cold_(book)
References
◾ Ted Goertzel and Ben Goertzel, Linus Pauling: A Life in Science and Politics, BasicBooks, 1995.
ISBN 0-465-00672-8
◾ Linus Pauling, Vitamin C, the Common Cold & the Flu, Berkley Books, 1981. ISBN 0-425-
04853-5
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vitamin_C_and_the_Common_Cold_(book)
&oldid=734151745"
Categories: Vitamins
Medical books
Orthomolecular medicine
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